The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This is the third book I have read by this author, and they are all completely different in terms of stories told, but all dynamite. She is a force to be reckoned with. This is a retelling of the HG Wells story and offers up a twist: Here, the mad scientist has a daughter named Carlota who is nothing like her dad. Carlota pushes back on antiquated notions about women’s capabilities and their place in the world, turning the Victorian-era novel into an atmospheric feminist tale that melds horror, history and a little romance. The novel’s first half starts off objectively enough as Moreau’s scientific journals: Moreau, over the years has made furry hybrids with hunched shoulders and short forearms, but also apelike things whose knuckles could brush the ground. These horrible creatures suffer with tumors, painful joints and other infirmities. Moreau claims his experiments will someday unlock cures for human diseases, and he offers no more powerful example than Carlota, whom he claims is kept alive with injections that derive their healthful properties from jaguars. Science aside, Carlota pushes the novel forward as she grows up alone with her father in a hacienda that also is home to more than two dozen hidden-away hybrids. The second half of the book, where the hybrids strike back, is wonderful and satisfying and it is altogether a great read.